Weekend Love: Bake Date with Mommy Maggie Musings

If you follow me in Instagram, you probably know what days of the week are my favorite. Yes, like (if not by ALL) most working parents, it is always the weekend - FRIDAY NIGHT, SATURDAYS AND SUNDAYS.

I love the weekends not only because I get to forget about work temporarily. I love the weekends because I value my family the most. And these are the days of the week I can find the perfect reason to just devote my full time to them (well, that isn't always true but I would like to believe only they own my weekends).

I also love the weekends because those are the days I can reconnect with my passions. I can make time for this blog. And arrange playdates not only for the little kid's enjoyment but for my own as well. Just like two Saturdays ago when we went on an impromptu bake date with one of the bloggers I used to stalk now turned mommy friend, Maggie, and her little cutiepie Lucas.

Maggie and I have been talking about this bake date since the husband gifted me with a gas oven last Christmas. She is one of the experienced bakers that I personally know so I usually turn to her instant baking advice when I need them. As this was an impromptu bake date though, we did not have a baking plan. But it still turned out to be super fun. Not only for me, but to the little girl who surprised me that day.

My normally shy (especially to people new to her) little miss was extra cooperative and chatty that day. She asked Maggie if she can take a look at her making the royal icing (all by herself) and pulled a chair on her own (I think she temporarily forgot that she wasn't at home) when Tita Maggie gave her permission to.

Another good thing about playdates like this is while waiting for our end product to bake and set, Mags and I had the chance to chat about parenting ups and downs, exchange work dilemmas, talk about our the series that we are currently addicted too (thanks for the Suits reco Mags and Mike, we are now hooked!). It's always great to touch base with somebody who can relate to my daily wows and woes as a working parent.

Thanks Mags and Mike for letting us make a mess at your place. We are definitely looking forward to more weekends like this. And I hope this time with more of our baking blogger friends as well (Erl? Maqui? Sha? Mars? Pepper).

Memorable Intramuros Quips

On our recent trip to Intramuros, the kid had a great time walking around. You can tell because she was very conversational and asked so many questions. Most of them I completely forget by the time I go to sit down and make notes. But here's a few of those that I remembered. 

Still makes me smile each time I read them.

"I'm so kind today! I gave food to so many people!!!" -- after giving a piece of kitkat to a beggar

"mommy, what is freedom?" after we caught a glimpse of Jose Rizal's prison cell and asked me why he was imprisoned

"do we have to talk in English here in Intramuros, Mommy?" - arriving in Intramuros and seeing the streets lined with old houses (she probably thought we were in a different country already)

Family day is always the BEST day!

Earlier today. 

Several things happening these past few weeks that reminded me how important my family is.

Plenty of things here on earth could be temporal. But there are some - no matter how intangible -that transcends time. 

Relationships. Values. Memories. [on a good day, I could probably go on and on...but for now this is what comes to mind]

We spent a good deal of our day time today walking around this beautiful place in Manila called Intramuros. This place is so rich - of stories that our kids could benefit from. My kid had a lot of questions for me today. I wasn't able to give quick answers to most. I will have to brush up on Philippine history and get back to her soon. Or I might just refer her to her lolo who was my most favorite history teacher (yes, I probably will just do that).

But apart from the historical value of today's trip, we also took home a lot of reflective insights. We took a jeepney from Lawton to Intramuros and along the way, we were once again reminded of how lucky we are. I took that opportunity to point out to the kid what privileges she enjoys and reminded her as well not to take those privileges for granted because as how privileges are -- not everyone is afforded with those.

Today was a good day. Today was a day filled with gratefulness and appreciation to the brim.

Weekend Love: Tribeca Playdates

I think my kid will forever associate the word TRIbeca with ultra fun playdates. It's only our 3rd time to join a playdate here but she already feels so at home. On our way home last night, she told me: "Next week ulit ha, Mommy? Gusto ko every weekend tayo sana nandito" Parang park lang sa paningin nya.

I do hope our gracious host Tricia will never get tired of inviting us over.

****p.s. all captions below were by Maia.

Yipee, hurrayyyyy! Weeeeeeee!!!!

Up, up to the slide!

Playtime!

Mommy, you want to taste my sand juice?

My Kid Does Not Have An iPad....

But she has a great imagination! Beats any expensive gadget, agree?

Little miss labored on this for about 30 minutes and later handed it to me proudly saying: "Mommy, mukhang matagal pa ako mabibili ni Lolo (referring to my dad) ng iPad kaya gagamitin ko na lang muna imagination ko!"

Side story, we are gadget/TV-free on school days. I was a policy we loosely imposed at first when the little miss started going to formal school (aka traditional school). We wanted to also limit our TV viewing and since we are a household where one rule applies to all, we thought that by imposing this rule to the kid we would effectively cut our TV/gadget exposure ourselves. And we did! The rule is still loose (we had to make room for exceptions especially when we have my parents over) but what helps is us delaying to get cable TV subscription as well. We hope to delay until the kid is 7. Wish us good luck, okay? 

Don't ask me how she is with gadgets on weekends though. Because those days really reminds me how tough parenting is. But we always compromise. And I do hope we keep to that till the kid reaches her teenage years.